LEOMINSTER — On Sunday, May 17, 2026, Officers Nicholas Rice and Jason LaBell of the Leominster Police Department were dispatched to 106 Water Street following a report of a woman yelling in the parking lot.
(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Nicholas Rice and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)
“Dispatch gave the description of a white female with blonde hair wearing a white shirt,” Officer Rice said. “Upon arrival, I located the female party, later to be identified as Adrienne Belton, standing outside of a white vehicle. I could hear her yelling as we were approaching the parking lot from Water Street.”
According to police, Adrienne R. Belton, 39, is a resident of Worcester, MA.
“I shined a light in the area and explained why we were there,” Officer Rice said. “I gathered Adrienne’s information and ran it with dispatch. Dispatch confirmed that Adrienne had one warrant. Adrienne did not have a form of photo ID, so I asked her to confirm if that was her real name and birthday. She stated it was her. I placed her under arrest for the warrant.”
While searching Adrienne after she was arrested, Officer LaBell felt a hard object in her right back pants pocket.
“We asked her what it was, and she stated it was just a napkin,” Officer Rice said. “We opened the pocket and shined a light inside prior to extracting anything from the pocket.”
Inside the pocket, Officer Rice said he observed a small glassine baggie along with some crumpled up brown napkins.
Officer Rice said that, based on his training and experience, he knows glassine baggies are commonly used to carry illegal narcotics at the street level.
“I pulled out my baton and pried the items in her pocket out onto the ground,” Officer Rice said. “I observed a brown rock-like substance that, based on my training and experience, I believe to be heroin. I gathered the items in a glove and brought them back to the station.
Officer Rice said that while he was in the evidence room, he opened the brown napkins to see whether there were any other narcotics inside and found that there were.
“Inside the various crumpled/rolled-up brown napkins was a brown powdery substance that, based on my training and experience, I believe to be heroin,” Officer Rice said.
Officer Rice added that he found two white, rock-like substances that fell out of one of the brown napkins, that he believed were crack cocaine.
“These suspected narcotics have been placed into evidence bags and placed into evidence locker #6,” Officer Rice said.
Officer Rice went back to the booking area and read Belton her Miranda rights.
“She stated she would talk to me,” Officer Rice said. Adding, “I asked her what the narcotics were and she stated that I wouldn’t believe her but she picked up some napkins from the vehicle without knowing what they were. She stated, if she had to guess, the narcotics were dope and crack. It should be noted ‘dope’ is common slang for heroin and other opiates.”
Adrienne Belton, 39, of Worcester, was charged with the following:
- Possess Class A Drug, Subsequent Offense
- Possess Class B Drug
Belton was arraigned in Leominster District Court on May 18, 2026. Following her arraignment, she was released on personal recognizance. Belton’s next court date was a pretrial conference hearing scheduled for June 10, 2026.
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story took place in May, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to obtain the court documents. FOIAs are time-consuming.
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